Latest new releases on vinyl record, CD and cassette tape

This is the place to find every single new release we sell. It’s where you’ll find the latest indie rock on vinyl, the latest hip-hip on CD, the latest noise on tape, and every imaginable combination of the above. Maybe you’ll even find something unexpected.

Seba Kaapstad is not a person but a group, and a highly-international one at that. They’ve assembled a real wonder of a record, with positive grooves and good-vibes tunes spread over twelve tracks. I guess Thina is global future-pop, rich with colours and touching on all the loveliest genres. Out on Mello Music Group.

Gia Margaret’s There’s Always Glimmer was one of the slow-burn hits of 2018 in the U.S.A.. Produced by Margaret herself and initially issued in July to little fanfare, interest in the record snowballed to the point where it ended the year in the ‘Best Of’ lists from Gorilla Vs. Bear and The Line Of Best Fit. It’s only right, then, that There’s Always Glimmer should get its first pressing outside of the U.S. courtesy of Dalliance Recordings. The shoegaze-shrouded folk songs here are reminiscent of Lyla Foy and Juliana Barwick.

King’s Mouth is The Flaming Lips fifteenth album. It is named after, and based on, Wayne Coyne’s mind-bending art installation. According to Coyne, it comes from the same nucleus as the band’s live performances. Needless to say, it’s a typically odd/beautiful mix of sounds and words. Mick Jones of The Clash keeps popping up and narrating bits of it too.

Sheffield's most 1950s man returns with the first album not named after a part of Sheffield since his stunning debut Late Night Final. I'd do anything... anything to hear Richard Hawley make music as moving and intimate as that again but later records tend to be more fully arranged efforts with big production values. Still, he's a northern national treasure and we've be desperately trying to contact him or his management to get a message to him from a customer but no-one has yet responded. Can anyone help?

Everything Is Borrowed was the Streets fourth album and saw a return to form for the band after The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living which was the first the Streets album to get a mixed reception on release. Instead Everything Is Borrowed concentrated on positive vibes and feel good anthems reflected in the fact that a lot of its tracks have been played on their 2018 and 2019 greatest hits tours.

During their heyday from 1994 to 2004, Ash were one of the greatest singles bands around, with enough chart-denting firepower to sink a whole navy. This limited-edition box set collects 20 singles over ten 7” vinyls, including ‘Clones’ available for the very first time on the format.
All this reminds me. One R*c*rd St*r* D*y I saw a man dressed like Mario going through the 7" bins at Rough Trade East looking for Ash 7"s. A very fond memory.

Box set of lovingly re-produced 7” vinyl versions of the first ten 45s that the Trojan label released in Britain of legendary reggae producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and his own Upsetter imprint. Including his own ground-breaking hit ‘People Funny Boy’, each disc is presented in special card sleeves, with an eye-catching poster and an essay by Perry’s biographer David Katz.

A split here, containing a fresh and exciting collaboration on each side. On side A, experimental music’s elder statesman David Toop pairs with Jan Hendrikse in order to actualise a text score by Chieko Shiomi, very quietly. On side B, Cath Roberts, the sax leader of Sloth Racket, leads the large City University Experimental Ensemble in a performance of new work of hers. Out on multi.modal.

Steve Moore is a noted figure within the modern synth community, respected for his soundtrack work and his duo Zombi. Beloved Exile is the first solo studio non-soundtrack album he has made in five years, and Moore leaps on the opportunity to fully follow his own path. Guests including Mary Lattimore and Emel Mathlouthi. On Temporary Residence.

Mikal Cronin just goes about his business on this new 7”, a fact that will please fans of an artist we've heard precious little from since 2015’s MCIII LP. Both ‘Undertow’ and ‘Breathe’ are ultra-fuzzed psych-garage for the discerning connoisseur. This single also sees Cronin back on Famous Class, the label he released a split single with Wand through back in 2014.

Rather bizarre one-person wonk from Cambridge confounder and Ergo Phizmiz & Friends member Pete Um. Accompanied by electronics that sound at times as if powered by a potato found behind the communal cooker (and at other times unmistakably contemporary in style), Pete’s lovably old-fashioned vocals tackle self-analysis of a surreal - if modest - sort along with other diverse subjects.

UK/Austrian half male/half female feminist punk band Petrol Girls follow up 2016’s Talk Of Violence with Cut & Stitch. As the title suggests, this album is a more experimental work, stitching together a variety of ideas and sounds. If you want a visceral blast of punk energy, look no further. On Hassle.

epic45 are very good at remembering their youthful summers in the countryside. They have built a pretty successful career out of sun-dappled faded reminiscences with soft focus guitars and hushed vocals. This EP is almost an addendum to their recent Through Broken Summer LP and contains outtakes, alternate versions and some brand new tracks.

For those who haven't heard of Fire! Orchestra what you need to do is imagine a big band willing to channel all its resources into one thing: weight. Their previously resources have been heftier than most most metal releases, and though they've trimmed down from 28 to 14 members for Arrival it doesn't make them any less potent. Sublime in the way that music so rarely is. On Rune Grammofon.

Another chapter of frowning, flexing, collaged gritscapes from London’s Helm - ol’ Luke Younger to his chums. Once again on PAN, with the usual excellent Becker treatment and all that, the album was recorded out in the sticks somewhere, allowing for a bit more ruminatory distance from the subject matter of exhausting urban motion.

Here is another chance to Hecker. Anoyo emerges from the same sessions as his previous album Konoyo which means it is in collaboration with members of Tokyo Gakuso. Anoyo, however, is a starker album that is described as barren, desolate and skeletal. Music for solitude, a place which is increasingly required in order to get away from this hustle bustle world.

Self-titled debut album from Australian punk newcomers Amyl and the Sniffers, who have been known to hit the road harder than most. You gotta wonder what exactly a person has to do to be worth of the title 'sniffer. I'm sure Amyl has the answers. Features previously released singles ‘Monsoon Rock’, ‘Cup of Destiny’ and ‘Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled)’.

Fresh off making people throw up in the cinema with Kuso, Flying Lotus is back at it again with his latest album Flamagra. As always, the album is a frenetic maelstrom of hip-hop, R&B, jazz, soul, funk, beats, and whatever else Mr Lotus managed to put on between joints. He's also managed to fit in enough guests for a decent music festival with Solange, Tierra Whack and George Clinton appearing as well as lots (and lots) more.

Soft Issues, Leeds’ finest new power electronics outfit, release their debut full-length via Opal Tapes (Karen Gwyer, Wanda Group). A duo who also turn out for (among others) Cattle and The Shits, together they make a screeching racket of electronic drums, synths and machine malfunctions. This is all topped off by vocals that range from a snarl to a scream. We hear they love Afrobeat, though there's no evidence of that across these eleven tracks. 50p extra garlic.

Those of you that worried Big Thief were over when Adrianne Lenker released her solo album last year worry no more. Firstly, she’s done that before y’know, and secondly, here’s the band’s third album U.F.O.F. Apparently the last F stands for friend as if that info means it make sense. Anyway, you know this lot are a decent band - they’ve shown it twice before, so let’s not let an album title get between us and the music! LP and CD on 4AD.
**All pre-orders go into a hat to win a test pressing!**

Punk Rock Ist Nicht Tot is a career-spanning compilation album by hugely prolific Godfather of the Kent punk and garage rock scene, Billy Childish. Contains songs from his work with The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Delmonas, Thee Headcoates and more. Sleeve notes by Stewart Lee.

Athens via... the world? Perfect Oracle is the debut EP from Xyn Cabal who, informed by the tempestuous politics of Greece, has created tracks that borrow from all sorts of dance musics. It's the grime influence that is most audible, Xyn Cabal taking its sounds and rhythms and turning them into speed freaks. On Death Of Rave.

HXE continue 'club' music's trance revival. INDS is a four track EP on UIQ featuring what the press release enticingly calls "Industrial dancehall smackdown". To my ears they take the unrepentant melancholic intensity of industrial music and puts some euphoric trance shine on it. Extremely crying in the club.

How about this, then? Over two hours of unreleased Coil, dating from 1993 to 1996 and scrubbed from Danny Hyde’s (Coil, Psychic TV, Electric Sewer Age) studio archive. In a nice touch, the cover art, courtesy of Nurse With Wound’s Steven Stapleton, is derived from one of Jhon Balance’s dreams. On Infinite Fog.

Some extremely lush library sounds from Norwegian duo Coastal County here. The group’s eponymous record is full of meticulous re-renderings of noirish, Italo-style exploitation jazz. You’d imagine that Dummy-era Portishead would have had a field day sampling these tunes. The production on Coastal County is particularly juicy and makes the grooves really pop.

Following will.i.am in having a name that is also a website address, SPIME.IM release Exaland. More than anyone else the band bring to mind the multimedia collective japes of Amnesia Scanner, even playing in the same musical ball pit as the Berlin duo. They also have a handle on vocal manipulation that recalls Holly Herndon.

On his ninth LP the pianist Greg Foat aims to join the dots between the exciting new British jazz wave and some older generations. As such we see young whippersnappers Moses Boyd and Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics) lining up alongside more seasoned artists like Duncan Lamont and Ray Russell as part of The Mage’s supporting cast. The resulting sound mixes British folk styles with classic and contemporary jazz takes, and there’s also a pleasingly trippy seam that runs through The Mage.

The shadowy electronic artist known as Zomby moves over to Bedouin Records for his latest 12” EP. Consisting of five tracks of comparatively unreconstructed techno that sounds nothing like dubstep - at least in comparison to his previous outings - Vanta looks likely to be another fascinating addition to a discography that’s dipped a toe in basically every sub-genre of British dance music going.

German composer Ernstalbrecht Stiebler turned 85 this year. Karlrecords rises to the occasion with an album of reworks - the first in a series, by the way - by a few of the minimalist trailblazer’s appreciators. Stiebler’s aesthetics are interpreted by Raster-Noton co-founder Frank Bretschneider, Jasmine Guffond, Jes Strüver with Werner Durand (as Phonosphere), Kammerflimmer Kollektief and Bérangère Maximin.

What an interesting record Dominic Murcott has created here. To realise The Harmonic Canon, Murcott joined forces with the sculptor Marcus Vergette to build a half-tonne double-bell that peels in a variety of sympathetic and unsympathetic tones. The bell’s whirrs, hums and drones are then augmented by a set of other percussion instruments to create a piece of curious power. Performed by arx duo, The Harmonic Canon is a highly innovative work to place alongside the likes of Visible Cloaks and Midori Takada.

Fair play to Katsunori Sawa. Not often you see artwork that reminds you of primary school powerpoint presentations. Fair play musically too because Premier Gardens hits HARD. Sawa mixes industrial techno with some more dub inspired moments to create something Kevin Martin (the Bug to you and me) would play in a DJ set.

Rob Mitchell’s Abstract Orchestra go back to the well for another edition of their Madvillain homage albums. As anyone who copped 2018’s Volume 1 will know, these records feature the beats from Madlib and MF Doom’s legendary collaboration reinterpreted by a contemporary big band. As such, Madvillain Volume 2 is sort of like Count Basie for a post-?uestlove world.

Dennis Young began work on the Primitive Substance LP with Andy Gomory in the second half of the 1980’s, laying down basic tracks at Gomory’s studio in New Jersey. Over the next fifteen-odd years the ex-Liquid Liquid fellow Young continued to expand the material, bringing in various guests to build on the vaguely fourth-world-ish rhythm tracks he’d laid down with Gomory. The resulting record, only now getting a release through Athens Of The North (J.O.B. Band, Brief Encounter), is a funny mix of New Age grooves and jazz-fusion techniques. Think My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts.

Is there anything Adrian Younge won't present? I'm yet to find something, but do let me know if you have any luck. On Jack Waterson Younge and Waterson marry their expertise in hip hop and psychedelia to make a record that is worthy of a press release that mentions acid. Think Tame Impala with breakbeats. On Linear Labs.

Futuristic synth / disco / rave lads K-X-P with a deep dive into ideas of 'depth of time, non-linear time and escapism'. Far from being a po-faced, academic, or and aloof work, this album promises to be a thrilling electronic joy-ride. IV is only three tracks long, which offers a sonic cohesiveness that is a joy to hear. On Svart.

Nodding God is a musical project seemingly designed with those who love fantasy mythology in mind. Formed in reality musicians Andrew Liles and David Tibet, along with a shadowy mystery figure known as ‘Underage Shaitan Boy’, the band claim to be 666 years old and sing in an ancient, guttural Mesopotamian tongue on first album Play Wooden Child. Very, very strange, but very, very compelling...

One of the best albums of the 2000s. The hitherto lo-fi (ish) Leeds collective had already been straying into more drifty pastoral areas when, pretty much out of the blue, came this album in which modernist electronics collided with melancholic song craft and leftfield hip-hop courtesy of cLOUDDEAD who appear on three tracks. An absolute favourite in these parts.

Probably the number one nation for jazz outside of the United States is Japan. But how often does Ireland get a look in? Buntús Rince, a compilation of Irish jazz on AllChival, seeks to fill in that particular blank. Because of the context that the jazz scene emerged in Ireland, and its various difficulties, the music produced is distinctly Irish feeling.

In the 80s Benjamin Lew used an analog computer to create a number of miniature sound compositions that had something mysterious about them. Le Personnage Principal Est Un Peuple Isolé is the musical equivalent of looking into your hands at an insect you don't recognise. Created with help from Tuxedomoon's Steven Brown.

II Worlds sees The Exaltics (Robert Witschakowski) back on Clone West Coast Series for the first time in half a decade. Witschakowski marks this occasion with a set of deliciously dark astral electro. These tracks are sort of like the sonic equivalent of when things start to go south in Alien.

Corn is the first music from Arthur Russell’s diverse catalogue to be released in seven years. The album is made up from nine tracks that were recorded between 1982 and 1983. The direction Russell had taken at this time won’t surprise too many fans as songs from these sessions have appeared on 2004’s Calling Out Of Context. Fans will also be desperate to get their hands on this for the closing track, Ocean Movie, touted as one of Russell’s most beautiful pieces.

Highlights from the career of New York alternative rock outfit Big Stick, released on the cult outfit’s own label Drag Racing Underground. Collecting 15 tracks over two sides of clear vinyl document the duo’s ups and downs, packaged with an art collage from John Gill and Yanna Trance themselves. Features the song 'I Look Like Shit'.

The Intelligence present their tenth album, titled Un-Psychedelic In Peavey City but secretly still kinda psychy. The band now know each other and their sound perfectly, letting them mix it up freely and get as abstract as they wish. They also have a bit of fun on the song ‘L’appel du Vide’ by playing the beat you’ll know best from Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’... Out on V.M.I.

Feelin Kinda Free is album number 7 from The Drones, with producer and drummer rejoining the fold after a decade away. The Australian group are highly critical of the socioeconomic consensus, and the lyrics attack it while the band’s music sounds blasted and drained, but with enough energy left to fight back. Out on the TFS Records label.

Arthur King is not a person but an L.A.-based music and art collective. They have been curating a series of experimental albums by a bunch of cool artists. Their latest offering is by Austin, Texas musician Bill Baird. The album is called Owl. Baird dabbles in various experimental psychedelic versions of folk and pop. Here he stretches his psychedelic reach further and delves into the world of krautrock. It’s likely to leave you grinning like an idiot. On Dangerbird.

Deep deep vibes from New World Science here, with a set of fourth-world, new-agey synth zones. Osmos (Movements) is a highly atmospheric trip, with droning synth ambience supported with international percussion, synth flutes, and keenly felt saxophone. A real mood LP. Vinyl release on the Temple label.

Scotsman Linkwood’s 2009 debut album System is a funky affair. The album is a bit all over the place, boasting film noir-ish interludes and downtempo ballads in between album's the full-on funk mainstay. Simmering with head-bobber basslines, retro synthesizers, and sexy vocals, this vinyl reissue is smoother than the butter you left on the stove.

Dennis Young, one of the percussionists in the legendark post-punk/art-wave group Liquid Liquid, recorded a number of tape only releases for Daehan Electronics in the 80s after his band broke up. On Sojourn / Release label and musician worked to restore this lost New Age masterpiece, which Young recorded on old analogue synths.

Ghostride The Drift is a collaboration between three producers, one of whom happens to be Huerco S. The tracks here ride that very fertile line of simultaneously sounding dated and futuristic. Beats drift in and drones drift out, it goes from from fuzz to highway in a heartbeat. File under: cool music. On XPQ?

Liquid Liquid were one of the greatest bands to come out of 80s New York. After the band's end percussionist Dennis Young released a couple of cassette only albums with experimental South Korean label Daehan Electronics. On Visions / Release brings Young's skill at making you dance and plants in firmly in the world of new age.

I just luuurve that hollyhock. A shade of mauve so dark that it's almost black. It's the perfect cover art for something called Brick Reds, Black Mauves - a project which is, of course, Alex Ander one half of Scottish duo Dalhous (Blackest Ever Black). Here he makes a four-track EP of exuberant electronica and cinematic ambient with nods to both Demdike Stare and Boards of Canada.

Sprawling Europe wide psych project Fith return with their first release since their debut album, Swamp. A joyous explosion of free jazz, poetry, psych rock, electronics, and more. Their attitude is decidedly collective, which is probably why they sound like their having so much fun, even when the music itself takes a darker turn. On Outer Reaches.

Galaxian (not to be confused with Leeds disco-wranglers Galaxians) comes to Natural Sciences with a message. Golden Armageddon aims to destroy the harmful institutions that are bringing society to its knees. How does Galaxian plan to do this? With three tracks of chaotic gabber adjacent bangers that will force you to payt attention

Morphine were an unusual band in that their line up consisted of such things as bass, saxophone and drums rather than your standard guitars et al. Tragically frontman Mark Sandman died on stage in 1999 therefore leaving the band with a small but perfectly formed back catalogue of self described 'low end rock'. Cure For Pain was their second album and their influence is exemplified by the fact that tracks eventually found their way onto soundtracks for Beavis & Butthead and the Sopranos.

One of the best album titles I've read this week, The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste by industrial rock outfit Ministry is a mixture of heavy metal guitars, aggressive samples, and electronic beats. Probably the most useful touchstone is Nine Inch Nails (who you may know from being sampled on Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road'). Snap this up soon, as the original release cracked the Billboard Top 200.

Toth seems to be America’s youngest bedroom indie music maker. Laidback, melancholy and lushly produced, Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary sounds like a dreamy Soccer Mommy but fuller and with a hint of Kaputt-era Destroyer. Might very well be the perfect soundtrack for your lazy summer days.

Fluff is the debut solo album by Steve Marino. He is, however, an accomplished singer/songwriter who has been releasing albums under the Moor Hound moniker for the last decade. Reasons for his name change seem to, oddly perhaps, point to the fact he is now collaborating with producer Ben Lumsdaine. Fans of Cass McCombs, Damien Jurado and Sun Kil Moon will enjoy this. LP and CD on Darling.

Like my grandma, Plastic Mermaids hail from Isle Of Wight. They were formed by members of the bands Neon Fetus and Magic Octagon. Their debut LP, Suddenly Everyone Explodes, was recorded in their own self-built analogue studio. It mines the same seams as Mercury Rev and Animal Collective circa Post Merriweather Pavillion. CD and LP on Sunday Best.

Dylan Carlson looks older all of a sudden. Mind you, Earth have been putting out records for some 30 years and, to be honest, I’m probably remembering what he looked like from a picture in 1991. Anyway, this is the new album pre-grunge metal duo Earth and it’s called Full Upon Her Burning. LP and CD on Sargent House.

The eight-year wait for London post-punk band Hygiene to follow up their memorable debut album Public Sector is at an end, with their sophomore effort titled Private Sector (naturally!). Where its predecessor was nostalgic, this new effort rages at modern-day Britain in its current phase of capitalistic twilight.

Readjusting The Locks by Institute is the first album by the band since half of them upped sticks and moved from Austin to New York. It doesn’t seem to have held them back. They met up in Brooklyn in late 2018 and recorded an album of crisply produced scuzz rock, with the spirit of ‘77 inhabiting their thoughts and therefore the sounds they produced. On Sacred Bones.

Luka Productions is Malian producer, Luka Guindo. Falaw is his follow-up to 2017’s Fasokan. It sees him blending West African hip-hop and folktronica. He also blends the traditional and the modern with African storytellers, or Griots being backed by Luka’s synth work and Ngonis, a traditional stringed instrument, soloing over sampled beats. LP and CD on Sahel Sounds. CD includes two exclusive tracks.

Recorded in their own studio in Los Angeles and produced in-house by the band’s own Chris King, Motionless sees Cold Showers move in a more mature and complex direction for their third album, pushing their synthetic post-punk even further. Come in a sleeve designed by L.A.-based artist Robbie Simon.

An absolute milestone for Phil as his favourite childhood album finally arrived into Norman Records. It contains all Tears For Fears early and great tracks like Pale Shelter, Change and Mad World and sold absolutely billions of copies. Listen to it again, you'll have forgotten how good it tastes.

Bristol trip-hoppers Crustation, who burned brightly but briefly with a single 1997 album, enjoyed quite a few remixes in their time. Reissued here are two of the most famous, a pair of club reworks of dreamy single ‘Flame’ by New York’s Mood II Swing. ‘Mood II Swing Vocal mix’ focuses on Bronagh Slevin’s melancholy vocal lines, adding rich stabs and a flexing bass line. ‘Borderline Insanity Dub mix’ really nails it, though, the bass line truncated and other samples reworked into airy, panning atmospherics.

Copenhagen’s IRAH (Stine Grøn and Adi Zukanović) bring in the illustrious Seb Rochford for percussion duties on their second album Diamond Grid. The album is a fairly sumptuous blending of dream pop, trip hop and a kind of misty, haunting lounge. Not altogether unlike a less electronic Purity Ring.

Australian vocal jazz with an inevitably Giles Peterson co-sign from Brisbane's Laneous. The project belongs to Lachlan Mitchell who has been showing off his soulful falsetto for years. On Monstera Deliciosa he gets together with a number of incredibly talented musicians, including a couple from Hiatus Kaoiyote for an album as smooth as silk. On Soul Has No Tempo.

Here’s rising star Collard with his debut Unholy. Raised in a Mormon household near South London, the 24-year-old deploys sultry falsetto over lithe songs of funky r’n’b-ish rock and pop. Tunes such as ‘Hell Song’ and ‘Warrior Cry’ are filled with tight instrumentation, pregnant pauses and personal lyrics.

Arriving almost exactly two years after their Top Ten debut album, Future Dust is the sophomore effort from much-hyped British garage rockers The Amazons. This time, they’ve doubled down on their retro sound and gone even heavier, influenced by the woozy blues stews of Howlin’ Wolf to the rock hurricanes of Led Zeppelin.

Skinny Pelembe’s debut album, Dreaming Is Dead, mixes dub, hip-hop, sun-drenched folk and blissed-out soul. Giles Peterson has championed the Johannesburg-born, Doncaster-raised artist. James Lavelle and Ghostpoet have also been singing his praises. The album was produced by Malcolm Catto of Heliocentrics. If you like Massive Attack, this is probably for you. LP and CD on Brownswood Recording.

Just as those Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters keep packing out the cinemas, so too do the movie soundtrack releases keep rolling through record store doors. Ant-Man & The Wasp was soundtracked by Christophe Beck, who has really packed his music with rich layers of life. Two vinyl LPs of superhero sound, from Mondo.

The latest LP to emerge from the grotty storehouse of Trashmouth Records (Fat White Family, Warmduscher) comes courtesy of Madonnatron. It’s called Musica Alla Puttanesca, and what a fine title that is. The music’s not half bad either - tracks like ‘Sucker Punch’ have taken Trashmouth’s grizzled garage-rock sound and glued it together with the airy post-punk-pop of The Cardigans. Good work all round.

Taking inspiration from post-punkers ranging from The Fall to Parquet Courts and filtering them through today’s penchant for mixing many genres together at once, New York-based newcomers WIVES present their anxiety-ridden debut single ‘Waving Past Nirvana’ on 7” vinyl on City Slang.

Having gone from obscurity to support slots for Bloc Party to playing live on Jimmy Kimmel in little over 12 months, acclaimed Australian trio Middle Kids follow up last year’s debut album Lost Friends with a new six-track mini-album, titled New Songs For Old Problems. Expect more joyous indie-pop fun!

Two self-released (2017, 2018) albums by LA composer-synthesist and songwriter Emily A. Sprague come together as one in a neat RVNG Intl. re-release. Aptly titled, the pieces on Water Memory comprise gently lapping phrases on piano and synth, while Mount Vision harnesses loops and drones for markedly more bucolic soundscapery.

Let’s not dwell on the fact that Cul-De-Sac is a film by Roman Polanski and instead turn our attention to the fact that Krzysztof Komeda’s score for the 1966 flick remains a charming listen more than fifty years on from its release. Komeda turns in a set of oddball library arrangements here whose influences include Latin jazz, electroacoustic composition and Bernard Herrmann's movie compositions. Cul-De-Sac’s unique and brilliant soundtrack has been repressed courtesy of Harkit.

Do people need Reasons To Dream though? Isn’t dreaming, by its very nature, an escape from reason? Whatever. Anyway, whenyoung are a newish band who claim to be ‘London’s premier indie songsmiths’. Them’s big words, but on Reasons To Dream (leave it…) the trio do a pretty good New Order/Echo & The Bunnymen/other prominent post-punk group impression, so maybe they are.

Toronto trio Doomsquad are here with their third album Let Yourself Be Seen, a funky engagement with the world as it is (climate change, Instagram et al). For music made by three siblings, its impressive and great that this album is so sexy, with a fun / funky party pulse backing each track. Dancefloor utopianism on Bella Union.

Originally released through the legendary punk label Step-Forward in 1979, Live At The Witch Trials by The Fall finally gets the reissue treatment for a new generation of fans. As a debut album it’s rugged and repetitive forging the template that Mark E. Smith would become famous for. Out on 2CD and 180 gram vinyl from Castle Music and Sanctuary.

7" on Daptone from Miramar, a band based in the United States who draw on bolero, a music made popular by musicians from Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The two tracks here Salida and Urgencia are captivatingly romantic, as they expertly channel yearning and sadness. This is music that is utterly out of time, and beautiful as hell.

African Sunset is a very rare release from 1982 by Kabasa, a very fine South African band. Popular global eighties sounds are brought into dialogue with South African styles and instrumentation, with plenty of funk and jazz to be found in there. It is very unlikely that you already own African Sunset, so take advantage of this remastered reissue!

In the three years since her debut album Hold Your Mind, introspective English folk artist Bess Atwell has steadily turned out a string of wonderful EPs and singles. Big Blue, containing recent track ‘Cherry Baby’, is the most recent of these, a five-track collection arriving on 12” vinyl in 2019.

The second album from The Fall gets the reissue treatment here. Dragnet, recorded in 1979, established the routine to which Mark E. Smith would indefinitely adhere; new music and new members. In contrast to Live At The Witch Trials, Dragnet features decidedly muddy production, setting a precedent for future albums. Out on CD and vinyl LP from Castle Music and Sanctuary.

Third album from Honeyblood, the powerful band of Stina Tweeddale and pals. That big Glasgow attitude is very much still present here, but we also get the benefit of John Congleton’s premium production talents. Crunchy guitar textures and no-bullshit lyricism, this is In Plain Sight. On Marathon Artists.

Lee Moses is an enigmatic Southern Soul kind of guy, noted for his rare but fantastic 1971 album Time and Place. But what if you wanted to go deeper than that album? Well then you’d need How Much Longer Must I Wait?, which compiles (mostly earlier) non-album material that is either vanishingly rare or actually never before released. Very soulful stuff, beautifully restored and presented.

Ciel returns, this time on Spectral Sound. As much an important figure as a DJ and producer as an activist and empowerer of female and non-binary representation in electronic music, Cindy Li’s latest is an EP of four sputtering techno compositions. The two made in collaboration with Colin “Wiretapping” Sims are a touch heavier, but the overall sound is soft beats with lovely watery synths. ‘Hipwrecked’ even recalls Time Tourist-era B12.

Here come the warm J-E-T-S. This is a new team-up between serial club botherers Machinedrum and Jimmy Edgar, and on their wackily-named first LP ZOOSPA the pair use their know-how to create thick, metallic-sounding beats. There’s not really one style you can pin down here - rather, J-E-T-S have that kind of mish-mash R ‘n’ B/hip-hop/EDM sound that works so well for Hudson Mohawke. ZOOSPA is bolstered by some great guest appearances from (among others) Dawn Richard and Mykki Blanco.

Chilean/German artist Matias Aguayo’s last album was The Visitor in 2013. About the only rule with this chap is that there will be dancing, and this by no means guarantees 4/4 rhythms. In fact, Support Alien Invasion seems dead keen to slip around and between typical time signatures. Aguayo’s impressive success lies in navigating this tricky minimal terrain without losing grip of the party or resembling too closely his stern, clanking German associates.

Paul Den Heyer is something of a supporting cast character in the North-West’s music history, formerly a member of short-lived indie rockers Fishmonkeyman and then of The Red Sided Garter Snakes alongside ex-members of Puressence and Inspiral Carpets. He’s now creating hazy guitar sketches in his own right - Everything So Far is his debut solo release.

If you believe what you read, Toronto post-punk band Greys have matured into a less noisy, more thoughtful band for their third album, Age Hasn’t Spoiled You. Judging by the track 'These Things Happen' that’s not necessarily the case. They still have that racket-making ability, coupled with an ear for melody. Basically, old fans have no need to worry. On Carpark.

We loved that earlier Big Tide 12" which allowed me to live out all my Dumptruck/Guadalcanal Diary fantasies. It's been a long time in the waiting but here is a debut full length which will hopefully set Ben Thomas towards the big(ger) league. Think classic sounding chiming pop rock with nods towards the Byrds and the Icicle Works. Pal of our store Jonathan Nash (Hookworms/Cowtown) pops up on drums too!

Seventh full-length album from avant-garde artist Gregory Pappas, recording under his moniker OKADA. Consisting of four lengthy pieces of largely ambient but occasionally violent and cathartic electronica, Life Is But An Empty Dream is also the first album from Pappas to ever be pressed on to vinyl.

Marlon Williams used to be the boyfriend of fellow NZ singer/songwriter Aldous Harding. Since their split both of their careers have been on the up and they both seem to release new records around the same time. Williams’ latest piece of wax is Live At Auckland Town Hall. It was recorded when Williams returned home following a massive world tour. An emotional night with an artist showing a home crowd what he’d learned on the road. LP and CD on Dead Oceans.

Los Angeles based Com Truise returns to Ghostly International for his follow up to 2017’s Iteration. This mini LP see the producer take a re-approach to his craft, taking a fresh palette of sounds and techniques whilst retaining his signature 80s/VHS warmth, and of course the Linn Drum is still highly prevalent.

Like it or lump it, A.I. and other forms of automation are playing increasing roles in everyday human life. It’ll be good and bad, but it won’t be stopped. Tech pop boffin Holly Herndon’s newun PROTO looks to the exciting and optimistic possibilities of ensuring such changes are on human terms. The tracks were created with assistance from her specially trained A.I., Spawn. Attabot, Spawn.
**All pre-orders will go into a hat to win a test pressing or two tickets to see her live at the Barbican**

I see saxophones, I see dreadlocks... I hear jazz. This is the debut album from this London five piece who also blend afrobeat, hip-hop and grime into their concoction of sound. They've been doing pretty well for themselves (even playing at Quincy Jones birthday) and there's always room for one jazz album in the Mercury Prize. This will probably have a good a shout as any.

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